Entry 1: Elden Ring

December 10, 2023 

Where do I even begin? I have a love-hate relationship with the game—well I have such a relationship with every FromSoftware game. Especially Sekrio: Shadows Die Twice, but I won't get into it; it deserves its own entry.  

I wholeheartedly enjoy the open world aspects of Elden Ring. I like how it doesn't hand hold you and lets you do your own thing. They let you complete the game at your own pace and don't just force you to fight a boss without preparation. That's good and all but dear God are the bosses hard. That's also another thing I adore about the game, the challenge. 

The feeling you get after defeating a boss you had been struggling with for God knows how long, it's heavenly. 

For me, there were and are a couple of bosses that frustrated me to no end. First, the Fire Giant. He single-handedly made me quit the game for nearly half a year. I'm quite aware that is a long ass time but things happen and I was just done with the game. I had no motivation to get back into it. Luckily, I picked it back up and beat him after hours of pushing my head against a seemingly immovable wall. 

Second, Malikith, the Black Blade. His first phase was a breeze, nothing I hadn't come across thus far. His second phase however was hell. Destined Death was an instant ko for me and it was nearly impossible to dodge. It had me questioning my capabilities as a gamer. Was I a fraud? Was it all luck? Thankfully, I learnt of the Blasphemous Claw and washed him. 

Last but not least, the Elden Beast. The boss I'm currently stuck on and the final boss of the game. Radagon is light work. Now that I'm armored with Maliketh's Black Blade, I can make quick work of him. But like always, the second phase (Elden Beast) is torture. I barely get a hit in with all that running he does. 

Despite all this praise, there's just one little problem. One little inconvenient aspect that I despise. The number of cliffs that can lead to instant death. For example, you are battling a boss, they have a chip of health left, you get excited and try to rush them. The boss attacks, you dodge but roll off a cliff. You instantly die and the battle restarts. I lost count of the number of times this happened to me. 

In conclusion, while I adore the game, I hate the cliffs.